India’s Anirban Lahiri fired a pair of eagles in an eight under par 63 to set the pace midway through the opening round of the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre.
The Asian Tour regular, who fired a hole-in-one during last year’s Open Championship, made three at the par five 14th and then holed his approach to the 18th.
Along with five birdies and a bogey, that saw Lahiri – who has yet to record a top ten finish on The European Tour but has won three times on the co-sanctioning Asian Tour – take a two shot lead over England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Spain’s Miguel Angel Jiménez.
“Halfway through the round, I really got it going,” said the 26 year old. “I didn’t really get off to a great start. I was one-over through four holes and a couple of eagles on the back nine got my momentum going and I’m happy I managed to focus all the way through.”
Fleetwood won his first European Tour title a fortnight ago at Gleneagles, and after turning in a one under 34 eagled the long first and picked up three further birdies for a round of 65.
The former Challenge Tour Number One’s first victory was followed by a missed cut in Wales, but the 22 year old feels better equipped to deal with the pressure now.
“I felt a lot better about my game from Monday onwards,” Fleetwood said.
“It was a hard week; I wasn’t prepared for how hectic it would be.
“It was my first win and hard to take and it was a big comedown but hopefully I’ll be more prepared for my next win.”
That was matched by 2010 winner Jiménez, making his 25th consecutive appearance in the event, with the man who took the title from him in 2011 – Dane Thomas Björn – a shot further back.
